An unworldly and closed-minded American travels to a small village in exotic Chiapas, Mexico; at the behest of his estranged mother when his half-sister disappears during a local epidemic of kidnappings attributed to the legendary J-ok'el, the weeping woman, who drowned her own babies, centuries ago and whose spirit has returned to claim more children as her own.

George Christensen: [they are watching a girl painting Jokel] That's J'ok-el! Carmen Romero: Well, that's how they call her here, it's a Mayan name, but most Mexicans call her, La Llorona, The Weeping Woman. We shouldn't speak outloud about her, we shouldn't say her name [whispering] Carmen Romero: it's too dangerous. She was born in here, in San Cristobal, she felt in love with a Spanish Soldier, they had two children, and then he left her for another woman. That night, she went insane... She took her children to a lake, and she drowned them... George Christensen: So, this is like a bed time story... Carmen Romero: No, when she realized what she had done, she filled her pockets with stones and walked to the bottom of the lake.